NOVEMBER 13, 2000

Noises from Silverstone

WE hear that there is to be an Emergency General Meeting of the British Racing Drivers' Club - the club which owns the Silverstone racing circuit, near Northampton. The EGM is expected to take place within the next few days and we believe that this may be related to the fact that Jaguar Racing has now been given planning permission to build its new factory on land owned by Silverstone.

The original plan was for the circuit to keep control of the land and build the factory and that it would then be leased back to Jaguar but in recent weeks we have repeatedly heard that Jaguar wants to buy the land outright.

The meeting could also be related to the British Grand Prix as it has become increasingly clear in recent weeks that the 2002 event is not going to be held at Brands Hatch and that a compromise was needed with Silverstone. It is not clear, however, why this would involve the BRDC as the club gave up its commercial control of Silverstone last summer in exchange for an annual payment from the company that runs the track. This firm remains a BRDC subsidiary but is quite independent.